Every morning, for 22 long years, a frail, diminutive man, barefoot and clad in a loin cloth, would trudge two kilometres to a hillock of solid rock and chip away at it with a hammer and chisel. Bemused onlookers thought he had lost his mind, and he was an object of great fun for village urchins. But the women of the village, young and old, admired him, for his was a labour of love.

Dasrath Manjhi was building a memorial to his wife Phaguni Devi—one that won't ever find a place in hallowed global must-visit lists, but can well be passed down from this generation to the next as a monument of love. A poor man's Taj, literally. Not for its aesthetics, but for the way it symbolises the human spirit's capacity to endure, its indomitability. Dasrath had undertaken a Herculean task, perhaps unequalled in recent human history. The direct beneficiaries may be few—the residents of Gelaur, a remote hamlet in Bihar's Gaya district—but the act itself is a gift to us all: a fable for our times.

Today, a week after his death, Dasrath Manjhi is remembered by everyone in his village as 'Dasrath Baba'. In caste-ridden Bihar, under normal circumstances, he would never have qualified for this title, which only a Brahmin is entitled to. Dasrath was a Musahar, a caste which traditionally ranks among the lowest of the low. Musahars derive their caste name from their unusual occupation—they dig through rat-holes after harvest, and forage for the grain stored by bandicoots (moos in the local lingo) under the ground. When there's not enough grain, they've been known to hunt and eat the bandicoots to keep hunger at bay.

Dasrath eked out a living as a farm hand, toiling in the fields of local landlords on bare subsistence wages. One day, in the early '60s, his wife Phaguni fell ill and Dasrath set off with her to the nearest hospital. She died on the way. If only there was no hill blocking the road to the town, Dasrath would have made it to the hospital in time, and perhaps his wife's life would have been saved.

The villagers of Gelaur had to take a circuitous route and travel 19 km to Wazirganj, the nearest district town. This was because the massive 360 feet long, 25 feet high and 30 feet wide sheer rock came in the way of the shortest possible route between the village and the town.

The situation would have brought about a feeling of resignation or fatalism in the average man—as if God had himself put this giant obstacle in the path of his ailing wife. Dasrath's response was different and radical—at once unthinkable and stunningly simple. He decided to alter geography with chisel and hammer. To cut a road through the huge mass of rock.

After 22 years of back-breaking, single-handed toil, Dasrath finished in the mid-'80s. The mountain had yielded to man. Now, Wazirganj was just about six kilometres away, the people of Gelaur could reach it in under an hour.

His self-set target reached, some villagers advised Dasrath to meet the then chief minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, with the plea to construct a pucca road between Gelaur and Wazirganj. "After all, Lalooji had promised the people of Bihar roads that were as smooth as the cheeks of Hema Malini," recalls Bujhaval Manjhi, a 73-year-old farm hand from Gelaur. "Lalooji did direct his officials to take necessary action. But, as happens with such promises, no action was taken even during the tenure of Rabri Devi." Dasrath might have become a local hero, but his voice counted for nothing with the state government. Dasrath himself remained a humble, self-effacing man, doing nothing to attract publicity for his titanic feat of endurance. It didn't even bother him that the Limca Book of World Records misrepresented his achievement by giving wrong statistics that significantly reduced the size of the rocky hill he cut through, chip by chip.

A few months ago, when an ailing Dasrath was egged on by the villagers to petition Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on their behalf and remind him of Laloo's promise, he went to the CM's 'janata durbar' in Patna. Nitish received him with honour, made arrangements for his medical treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and even offered Dasrath his own seat at the durbar. If this was a move to bring the CM favourable media publicity, it succeeded admirably.

More importantly, Nitish not only promised the pucca road connecting the village to Wazirganj town, but also a hospital in Gelaur itself—to be named after Dasrath. The land on which the hospital would come up had earlier been allotted to Dasrath, but the typically selfless man would rather that a hospital be built on the plot. It is a poignant irony that just a few weeks later Dasrath himself died at
AIIMS—far from the place where he had spent his life in selfless toil, and where he continued to live in obscurity.

The recognition that had been denied Dasrath during his lifetime finally came after his death. The Nitish government arranged to bring his body to Gaya. Dasrath was given a state funeral last Saturday at his village, his body draped in the tricolour and men in uniform serving as pall-bearers. Besides the CM, Bihar assembly speaker Udai Narayan Choudhary and sundry legislators were present. Dasrath's mortal remains were not consigned to the flames but buried in accordance with the Kabir Panthi tradition.

The chief minister paid fulsome tributes to Dasrath's "perseverance and dedication", describing him as "a great soul". But in Gelaur they have a more apt sobriquet. They call him "the man who moved a mountain".

If you wish your letter to be considered for publication in the print magazine, we request you to use a proper name, with full postal address - you could still maintain your anonymity, but please desist from using unpublishable sobriquets and handles

Thank you to all those who have taken the trouble to read the article and share their thoughts. Out of the arguments made here, there are two that perhaps need answering. So here they go.

1. The first part of the article compares outcomes (relative percentages of population of the religions concerned) irrespective of the process that led to those outcomes - whether immigration, relatively faster population growth or conversions. This was for two reasons. One, to put the figure of 2.3 per cent in "numerical perspective", as the article itself explained. The second reason was that outcomes are ultimately what the crux of debate is about. The rest of the article in any case dealt with process - or conversions in this case, from both a contemporary and historical perspective.

2. Some commenters have tried to cast doubts on the reliability of Census 2001. Those who do this should bear in mind that Census 2001 was conducted by a BJP government. Considering the extreme importance that BJP gives to this issue, it would be reasonable to expect that IF it had perceived a problem with the methodology that was distorting the numbers, it would have fixed it. As the article mentioned, BJP or BJP-supported governments have been in power for 10 of the last 40 years, or about a quarter of the time, and the only reasonable conclusion one can arrive at is that any misreporting of numbers, real or perceived, would be marginal and hence, not of importance.

To all other arguments made, my answer is the following: Please read the article again, with particular focus on the quotations of Vivekananda and Monier Williams, and the history of the missionary efforts in Bengal and their outcome.

Thanks and Regards,
Tony Joseph

8/D-81

Oct 02, 2012

02:25 PM

Limca Book of World Records distorted facts about Dasarath Manjhi with an aim---to show his achievement as small. Since his community called Musahars are illiterate (less than 3% in 2001 & population over 28,00,000) they didn't know what the Limca had done their real hero. In case of an educated community, say like Brahman, Bhumihar, Kayastha or Rajput, the Limca would have gone on knees and begged mercy for the mistakes as they would have dragged the publishers over coals.

The Limca should even now gracefully correct the mistake, nay distortation and present facts.

He will remain a folklore hero for ages.

I met him once at Assembly Speak, Bihar, Uday Narayan Chowdhary's residence. The man who subdued the mountan was simple and unassuming.

One man moved single-handedly a mountain - a herculean task by any reckoning. And what were the rest of his fellow villagers doing all these 22 long years of hard work, chipping away with hammer and chisel at this huge rock? They watched and made fun of his labors, which would get them a short-cut. What does that say about the over-whelming majority of the people of this land - they are all talk, the first to critize, but no actions - just a buch of gawkers. Even the altruistic actions of this selfless man will not move such folks to emulate him, rather they wait in vain for a uncaring, useless, do-nothing Sarkar to move the mountains for them. Thankfully, there's people like this Dasarath, who makes all the difference.

One man moved single-handedly a mountain - a herculean task by any reckoning. And what were the rest of his fellow villagers doing all these 22 long years of hard work, chipping away with hammer and chisel at this huge rock? They watched and made fun of his labors, which would get them a short-cut. What does that say about the over-whelming majority of the people of this land - they are all talk, the first to critize, but no actions - just a buch of gawkers. Even the altruistic actions of this selfless man will not move such folks to emulate him, rather they wait in vain for a uncaring, useless, do-nothing Sarkar to move the mountains for them. Thankfully, there's people like this Dasarath, who makes all the difference.

We at Outlookindia.com welcome feedback and your comments, including scathing criticism

But:

1. Scathing, passionate, even angry critiques are welcome, but please do not indulge in abuse and invective. Our Primary concern is to keep the debate civil. We urge our users to try and express their disagreements without being disagreeable. Personal attacks are not welcome. No ad hominem please.

2. Please do not post the same message again and again in the same or different threads

3. Please keep your responses confined to the subject matter of the article you are responding to. Please note that our comments section is not a general free-for-all but for feedback to articles/blogs posted on the site

4. Our endeavour is to keep these forums unmoderated and unexpurgated. But if any of the above three conditions are violated, we reserve the right to delete any comment that we deem objectionable and also to withdraw posting privileges from the abuser. Please also note that hate-speech is punishable by law and in extreme circumstances, we may be forced to take legal action by tracing the IP addresses of the poster.

5. If someone is being abusive or personal, or generally being a troll or a flame-baiter, please do not descend to their level. The best response to such posters is to ignore them and send us a message at Mail AT outlookindia DOT com with the subject header COMPLAINT

6. Please do not copy and paste copyrighted material. If you do think that an article elsewhere has relevance to the point you wish to make, please only quote what is considered fair-use and provide a link to the article under question.

7. There is no particular outlookindia.com line on any subject. The views expressed in our opinion section are those of the author concerned and not that of all of outlookindia.com or all its authors.

8. Please also note that you are solely responsible for the comments posted by you on the site. The comments could be deleted or edited entirely at our discretion if we find them objectionable. However, the mere fact of their existence on our site does not mean that we necessarily approve of their contents. In short, the onus of responsibility for the comments remains solely with the authors thereof. Outlookindia.com or any of its group publications, may, however, retains the right to publish any of these comments, with or without editing, in any medium whatsoever. It is therefore in your own interest to be careful before posting.

9.Outlookindia.com is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for how any search engine -- such as Google, Bing etc -- caches or displays these comments. Please note that you are solely responsible for posting these comments and it is a privilege being granted to our registered users which can be withdrawn in case of abuse. To reiterate:

a. Comments once posted can only be deleted at the discretion of outlookindia.com
b. The comments reflect the views of the authors and not of outlookindia.com
c. outlookindia.com is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for the way search engines cache or display these comments
d. Please therefore take due caution before you post any comments as your words could potentially be used against you